4 ms·

The entire premise of this is wrong. Research has shown that the majority of Americans favor allowing the government to take naked pictures of them, even if it

The entire premise of this is wrong. Research has shown that the majority of Americans favor allowing the government to take naked pictures of them, even if it doesn't result in extra safety. Jeffrey Rosen wrote an entire book about this called The Naked Crowd: http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Crowd-Reclaiming-Security-Freedom/dp/0375759859/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428335270&sr=8-1&keywords=the+naked+crowd http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Crowd-Reclaiming-Security-Freedo...

cookiecaper 12y ago
Indeed; we've already had this debate re: TSA body scanners. Most people are willing to compromise the exposure in exchange for assurance that they won't get blown up. Oliver's premise that this is the hinge on which the issue turns is a nice try but ultimately probably incorrect.
mherdeg 12y ago
Even outside of government, people are surprisingly compliant with authority when it comes to having naked pictures taken of them. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League_nude_posture_photos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League_nude_posture_photos , http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-league-nude-posture-photo-scandal.html http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-lea... . Wikipedia: "The Ivy League nude posture photos were taken in the 1940s through the 1970s of all incoming freshmen at certain Ivy League and Seven Sisters colleges (as well as Swarthmore), ostensibly to gauge the rate and severity of rickets, scoliosis, and lordosis in the population.[1][2] Harvard previously had its own such program by the 1880s.[2] The larger project was run by William Herbert Sheldon and Earnest Albert Hooton, who may have been using the data to support their theory on body types and social hierarchy. What remained of the images were transferred to the Smithsonian and most were destroyed between 1995 and 2001.[1][3]"
amarte 12y ago
John Oliver made it pretty clear in his street interviews that people were unanimously uncomfortable with the US government collecting and storing dick pics. While I have not read the book you linked, I think the dick pic premise captures the extent of the NSA's programs quite well and frames the issue in a down-to-earth way. It lets people see the domestic side of the issue, which is the difference between "Edward Snowden is a traitor who has compromised our national security" to "holy shit, the NSA is invading my privacy wtf..."

cookiecaper 12y ago

Indeed; we've already had this debate re: TSA body scanners. Most people are willing to compromise the exposure in exchange for assurance that they won't get blown up. Oliver's premise that this is the hinge on which the issue turns is a nice try but ultimately probably incorrect.

mherdeg 12y ago

Even outside of government, people are surprisingly compliant with authority when it comes to having naked pictures taken of them. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League_nude_posture_photos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League_nude_posture_photos , http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-league-nude-posture-photo-scandal.html http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-lea... . Wikipedia: "The Ivy League nude posture photos were taken in the 1940s through the 1970s of all incoming freshmen at certain Ivy League and Seven Sisters colleges (as well as Swarthmore), ostensibly to gauge the rate and severity of rickets, scoliosis, and lordosis in the population.[1][2] Harvard previously had its own such program by the 1880s.[2] The larger project was run by William Herbert Sheldon and Earnest Albert Hooton, who may have been using the data to support their theory on body types and social hierarchy. What remained of the images were transferred to the Smithsonian and most were destroyed between 1995 and 2001.[1][3]"

amarte 12y ago

John Oliver made it pretty clear in his street interviews that people were unanimously uncomfortable with the US government collecting and storing dick pics. While I have not read the book you linked, I think the dick pic premise captures the extent of the NSA's programs quite well and frames the issue in a down-to-earth way. It lets people see the domestic side of the issue, which is the difference between "Edward Snowden is a traitor who has compromised our national security" to "holy shit, the NSA is invading my privacy wtf..."